Now one great mistake that we make in striving to reach these things is that we keep putting off beginning.
Booker T. Washington
The Public Record
Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, and orator. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the primary leader in the African-American community and of the contemporary Black elite.
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The people in the community in which he lives have a confidence in him and a respect for him which they would not have if he did not possess the bank account.
An individual who has a bank account walks through a street so much more erect; he looks people in the face.
The possession of money, the having of a bank account, even if small, gives us a certain amount of self-respect.
So when you go out from here, buy a bathtub, even if you cannot afford to buy anything else.
Of the two, I believe I would rather see you own a bathtub without a house, than a house without a bathtub.
The people who kill and are killed, nine times out of ten, whether they are black or white, are people who do not own a home, who do not have money in the bank.
Persons cannot get hold of money without learning to exercise economy, without learning to make everything go just as far as it is possible to make it go.
People cannot get hold of money--or at least cannot keep hold of it--who have not learned to exercise self-control.
People cannot get money without learning to exercise forethought, without planning to-day for to-morrow, this week for the next week, and this year for next year.
The person who is not sure where he is going to get his breakfast, or the one who is not sure where he is going to get the money to pay his next week's board, is the individual who cannot do the best work, whether the work be physical…
No person can do the best work, can think well, can get along well, unless he has a certain amount of comfort, and, I may add, a certain amount of good, nourishing food, well cooked.